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gramerly.com/enterprise. screens

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and at my sunken eyes in the

4:02

mirror. I know how it got

4:04

this bad. I drifted into mediocrity and

4:06

obscurity and there was nothing I

4:08

could have done to stop it. I

4:11

slipped down into the mundane

4:13

depths and I've been wallowing there

4:16

for years, not enjoying it,

4:18

which would be ridiculous, but living

4:20

with it. Not

4:22

finding it hard to get up in the

4:24

morning or to smile at a colleague or

4:26

to tell the shop assistant to have a

4:28

good weekend. None of

4:30

them know how pathetic my existence had come

4:33

to be. They wouldn't

4:35

be interested anyway. If

4:37

I was hit by a car while crossing

4:39

a road, my ID left in my wallet

4:41

at home or if I died of hard

4:43

or liver failure on my sofa within those

4:45

familiar four walls, I'm not

4:47

sure anybody would notice. I

4:50

didn't go to the office for four

4:52

whole days once and I felt nervous about

4:54

calling in to tell my supervisor that I

4:56

was feeling unwell. When

5:02

I returned, nobody said a

5:05

word. My

5:07

pace slip was the same as it had always

5:09

been at the end of the month and there

5:11

were no repercussions about my absence. It

5:13

was like I was a ghost. That's

5:16

why I felt no fear when I saw the lights

5:18

again. I heard the

5:20

voices that sounded like a choir of

5:22

a thousand children singing words from an

5:24

ancient language, but I couldn't understand. Just

5:27

like I had the first time. I

5:31

went to them because I knew that

5:33

they were calling to me. They

5:36

remembered me and come

5:38

back for me. I'd

5:41

seen them for the first time as a child

5:43

when I stood in the garden of the house

5:45

where I grew up. They covered

5:47

still in the sky and pulsated and

5:49

screamed when they flew off into the

5:51

darkness. They were

5:54

monitoring me, but after my parents

5:56

died, it didn't return. Not

6:00

until my teens that is, where

6:02

I'd continued to live in the

6:04

same house, but now with my

6:06

grandparents, who had thought it was

6:09

best that I stayed in familiar

6:11

surroundings after such a

6:13

terrible tragedy. The lights appeared again,

6:16

but they looked different this time.

6:18

It was as if they'd aged

6:21

a century. It's hard to

6:23

explain, but the brightness that

6:25

they once had burned my eyes

6:27

and made my skin feel hot.

6:29

had gone. It was like staring

6:31

into the eyes of an elderly

6:33

person with dementia. What was there

6:36

had gone forever and can never come

6:38

back. Not in the same way at least.

6:40

It was then that I realized they

6:42

were a beacon. They brought warning

6:45

to me of something awful that

6:47

was to happen. The first time

6:49

it had been my parents' death,

6:51

but the second time I didn't

6:53

want to find out. So I ran.

7:02

Years upon years upon years had

7:05

passed and fear had turned to

7:07

frustration. And frustration had

7:09

turned to anger, or something

7:11

like it. Now the anger

7:14

was worn away somewhat, to

7:16

something that feels more like curiosity.

7:18

Why had I been chosen by

7:20

them? When the lights returned outside

7:23

my ground floor flat window,

7:25

hanging in the sky, finally

7:27

catching up to me after so

7:29

long. I felt relief. I

7:32

suppose I should have been scared.

7:34

Fucking terrified in fact. But it

7:36

wasn't fear that I felt. Not

7:39

at all. It was an overwhelming

7:41

sense of calm. I almost felt

7:43

as if I had wheeled them

7:45

to find me. Even though I

7:47

knew exactly what was happening, I

7:50

knew that I couldn't fight it.

7:52

Didn't even want to. I could

7:54

have struggled. Maybe even pulled myself

7:56

free of the restraints. But

7:59

I didn't. Just stared

8:01

up into the milky white light

8:03

and revisited a memory I often

8:05

would, although I'd usually be staring

8:07

at a mold-spotted ceiling in the

8:09

early morning while I did. Putting

8:11

aside trivial worries like what the

8:13

traffic was going to be like

8:15

on the way to work, or

8:17

if I had enough money left

8:19

in my account to pay my

8:21

electric bill. The memory was something

8:23

simple, something my mother had said

8:25

to me over breakfast one morning.

8:27

But I was thinking about taking

8:29

a knife to my wrist if

8:31

I had to endure the punishment

8:33

of the spiteful at school for

8:35

one more day. I remembered burnt

8:37

toast and spilled orange juice in

8:39

Mala. I love you, and I'm proud

8:41

of you. You're a good boy.

8:43

There was a smell of burning

8:45

hair and a wet slap that

8:47

sounded like a flap of skin.

8:49

It hurt a lot. And I

8:51

wondered why they hadn't taken me

8:53

the first or second time they

8:55

came to me. Perhaps I wasn't

8:57

considered ready. for whatever this process

8:59

seemed to be. I must have

9:01

passed out because when I came

9:03

back to consciousness, I wasn't lying

9:05

on the ground or waking up

9:07

in my bed like any normal

9:09

day. I was walking. Across the

9:11

familiar street, but the block of

9:13

flats I once called home had

9:15

gone. Replaced by a much taller

9:17

white building and an oddly angled

9:19

glass tower reaching up towards the clouds.

9:22

I could see furniture and people

9:24

within it. clearing out from the

9:26

glass like ants in a farm.

9:28

It was strange because even the

9:30

street looked different. Cleaner somehow. The

9:32

paving slabs were new. And even

9:34

the tarmac was the shiny kind

9:36

of black it usually was when

9:38

it is fresh. I looked around

9:40

for a sign to confirm that

9:42

I was at my address and

9:44

not just lost. But I couldn't

9:46

see one. I could just see

9:48

an enormous curved plasma screen at

9:50

the side of the street. displaying

9:52

weather information and stock market stats,

9:54

which have always been like a

9:56

foreign language to me. I made

9:58

it to work on autopilot. Not

10:00

entirely sure if I had made

10:02

the journey on foot or on the

10:05

usual bus. When I arrived I noticed

10:07

the building had been completely

10:09

refurbished. Everything clean

10:11

and sterer. White walls and

10:14

large panels of glass. My

10:16

office wasn't the same. And all

10:18

the people working there had been

10:20

replaced. Everybody was so young.

10:22

One of them said something about my

10:25

clothes and another asked me who

10:27

I was. They

10:29

all looked

10:33

at me

10:35

like I

10:37

was a

10:41

crazy person.

10:44

At least

10:48

they looked at me. narrated

10:51

by James Barnett, aka Jimmy

10:53

Horace himself, produced by Carl

10:55

Hughes of music by Chris

10:57

Debriskey and Tom Ruffson, a

11:00

sound effect provided by Free

11:02

sound.org. The episode illustration provided

11:04

by Luke Spoon of Carry

11:06

On House. Joshua Bouché is

11:09

our story programmer, and the

11:11

longer Jasmine Archent is Iless

11:13

One's Mary Pastrano and Cody

11:15

Salzasti. He helps manage our

11:18

community. And a big thank you

11:20

to Ben Arrington for the ongoing

11:22

explosion of content he fires out

11:24

of his social media canon. With

11:26

his debut novel, Ten Tales of

11:28

the Human Condition, his novella, Die

11:30

Pack, and a short story collection

11:32

called Death Rose, Ben Arrington's fast-paced,

11:35

chaotic, cinematic style has earned him

11:37

many plaudits. He's also co-founder of

11:39

The Story City of Hawk and

11:41

Gleever along with this podcast and

11:43

he's the co-creator of the post-apocalyptic

11:45

comic book Elmarvo and co-host of

11:47

horror movie discussion podcast, Horror Hangout.

11:49

You can follow Ben on X

11:52

at at Ben underscore Erington. James

11:54

Barnett is the producer of the Natzend

11:56

podcast and After the Globe. Search for

11:58

them really get a... cast, you can

12:00

catch the other works of his

12:03

at jamesbarnetcreative.com. Devastories

12:05

is a production of the store studio

12:07

Hulk and Cleaver, and it's brought to

12:09

you with Grifter Commons, attribution, non -commercial, no

12:11

-grifter's license. That means don't change it,

12:13

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